News and Comment

The latest news and commentary from the Electoral Reform Society.

Around the World | Current Affairs Commentary | Developments at the ERS | Your Questions Answered | Case Studies

Would you back ‘None of the Above’?

Following the county council elections we’ve been hearing a lot about ‘None of the Above’. The IPPR recently flagged None of the Above – or NOTA – as a part of their plan to boost youth...

Posted 14 May 2013

Ballot Papers

Where are my leaflets?

“How could I make a decision? I didn’t receive any leaflets” That seemed to be a common complaint from the 2013 County Council Elections. We’ve conducted a string of interviews for local radio where many...

Posted 13 May 2013

Four good reasons to oppose recall

Governments rarely receive praise for inaction – but that is precisely the right move on recall. In today’s Queen’s Speech there was no reference to the pledge to legislate for recall. This is a system...

Posted 08 May 2013

UKIP rise: Expect the unexpected

As polls open in County Council Elections all the talk is on UKIP’s prospects. Our elections were never designed for 3 party politics – let alone 4. Our fickle First Past the Post system has...

Posted 02 May 2013

Do you live in a Rotten Borough?

With this year’s county council elections only a few weeks away, we’ve undertaken new analysis that has revealed the parlous state of local democracy in England and Wales. Evidence shows 21 million people are now...

Posted 17 Apr 2013

South Shields: Why bother with a by-election?

After David Miliband’s shock resignation we’re looking at a by-election in South Shields. At the Electoral Reform Society we care about elections. But in the case of South Shields we’re wondering what’s the point? The...

Posted 27 Mar 2013

What Scots really think about devolution?

Scots currently aren’t keen on independence, but most of us would like all major powers – including welfare and tax – exercised in Edinburgh, not Westminster. Today we launch a joint report with Scotcen to show what...

Posted 18 Mar 2013

Reviving the Health of Our Democracy

Political and constitutional reform has had a tough time of late but going into the next General Election has never been so important. Too often shoved into the ‘too difficult’ box, reform of our democratic...

Posted 12 Mar 2013

Scottish Public want bigger voice in politics

Last week politicians in Scotland were queuing up to call for more power to be exercised at local level. But it seems our politicians are coming late to the party on localism. Today we launch the...

Posted 12 Mar 2013